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Monday, December 12, 2011

Forget the fruitcake: Give skydiving lessons (AP) : Technet

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Forget the fruitcake: Give skydiving lessons (AP) : Technet

Forget the fruitcake: Give skydiving lessons (AP)

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 04:47 PM PST

By BARBARA ORTUTAY, AP Technology Writer Barbara Ortutay, Ap Technology Writer – Mon Dec 12, 7:47 pm ET

NEW YORK – Forget the material things — reindeer sweaters, clunky toys, stocking stuffers that end up as, well, stuff. How about a skydiving lesson, a spa pampering or a night at a cozy bed and breakfast?

This holiday season, a lasting memory is worth a thousand knickknacks.

With less money to spend in the weak economy, and with daily-deal sites like Groupon growing in popularity, more Americans are giving experiences instead of glitzy gifts. Think comfort and joy, not five golden rings.

Instead of sneakers or electronic gizmos, Denice Bailey and her husband are treating their two teenage boys to a Dallas Cowboys game, dinner at a steakhouse and a family night in a hotel.

Because it's sure to cost hundreds of dollars, the parents let the boys choose between the night on the town and store-bought gifts. Bailey was surprised by their decision.

"That said a lot to me, that they are wanting that memory, that experience," says Bailey, from Abilene, Texas. "That family time is for me as a mom the most precious gift I can have."

There's no reliable way to track how much shoppers are spending on experience gifts this year compared with last. Restaurants, spas and other businesses don't always know if people are buying their services as gifts or for themselves.

But shoppers are expected to spend $80 million to $100 million on deal sites over the holidays — as much as 10 times more than last year — according to an estimate for North America from Yipit, a site that collects daily deals from across the Web.

"Deal sites get a lot of credit for bringing new and unusual experiences to the attention of people who might not have thought about them," says Dan Hess, CEO of Dealradar.com, another site that aggregates deals.

Groupon, the biggest deal site, sold 650,000 of its "Grouponicus" deals — the name is an apparent play on the secular "Seinfeld" holiday of Festivus — in the four days after Thanksgiving, six times as many as last year. The company wouldn't give dollar amounts.

LivingSocial, the No. 2 deal site, sold more than 281,000 vouchers during the first three days of its "12 Days of Giving" promotion — about one and a half times what it sold last year. The number given as gifts has more than doubled.

For those ready to take the plunge, there are as many options for experience-giving as Santa has elves.

In New York, LivingSocial had a $100 deal for a wine-tasting and meatball-cooking class taught by the chef of Little Owl restaurant. It sold out in an hour. In Austin, Texas, Groupon offered a package of classes valued at $2,300 for $999. Included: a five-hour pyrotechnics workshop, a stunt driving course and hand-to-hand-combat training. In Toronto, it offered dog-sledding lessons for two for $74, half off.

While there's no way to tell how many of them were given as gifts, Sheri Bridges, a marketing professor at Wake Forest University, says experiences are the best gifts for the person who has everything.

"Something time-starved people don't have is quality time with people they love," she says.

Kevin O'Connor, 26, of Overland Park, Kan., found a spa massage on Groupon to give his girlfriend for Christmas. It normally goes for $132 but cost him $62. To add suspense, he plans to put the printed Groupon in a big box.

"She saw it on there but didn't want to buy it because it was some extra thing she didn't want to spend money on," he says.

Kristen Vannice bought her boyfriend flying lessons on a glider, a small plane that runs without power using air currents. For $99 from the Soaring Society of America, she got him a lesson, instruction materials and a few months' membership to a glider training group.

"He always talked about it kind of longingly, and I knew it was just the kind of thing he probably wouldn't get around to taking the initiative to do himself," says Vannice, 29, a doctoral student at Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in Baltimore. "We rarely pamper ourselves with nice or new experiences."

Still, as with any gift, givers of online daily deals have to proceed with caution.

They come with expiration dates, and if your brother keeps hectoring you about whether you've taken that hot air balloon ride, it can get awkward. Plus, you can always take a necktie back, but returning a day of zip-lining is tricky without a time machine.

And the deals are basically coupons, which can carry a stigma. LivingSocial offers what it calls virtual gift wrap — the recipient gets his or her deal in a fancy envelope, and without seeing what the giver paid. Groupon recipients only see a description of the offer, and sometimes the regular price of the experience.

Then there are other gift faux pas to consider.

Aaron Cooper, whose job title is chief of gifting at Groupon, said givers should make sure to tailor their gifts to the person so it's something they can use. Not, say, skydiving lessons for 86-year-old Aunt Bertha.

Maire Griffin, a LivingSocial spokeswoman, agrees: "You're not going to give anyone Botox. If you are, you're not going to be their friend anymore."

Intel cuts 4Q outlook citing supply shortages (AP)

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 04:50 PM PST

– Mon Dec 12, 7:50 pm ET

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Chip maker Intel Corp. caused shares for the entire microchip sector to sink when it cut its fourth-quarter revenue outlook Monday.

Intel is the latest technology company to feel the impact of hard-disk-drive shortages stemming from monsoonal flooding in Thailand. The world's largest maker of microprocessors says it now expects fourth-quarter revenue of $13.4 billion to $14 billion, down from $14.2 billion to $15.2 billion during the key holiday quarter. Wall Street was looking for revenue of $14.65 billion, according to FactSet.

Shares of Intel, based in Santa Clara, fell $1.01, or 4 percent, to $24 on Monday.

Rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc. saw its shares slide 24 cents, also 4.3 percent, to $5.30.

Texas Instruments, meanwhile, fell 81 cents, or 2.7 percent, to close at $29.13.

Only stocks of financial companies fell more sharply. Their industry was dogged by renewed anxiety over the European debt crisis.

Thailand's widespread flooding in began in late August. The floods have caused factory shutdowns and hard-drive shortages. Thailand makes about a quarter of the world's hard drives and is the world's second-largest producer behind China, according to research firm IHS iSuppli.

Although worldwide PC shipments have been growing at a slower pace than expected this year, Intel has fared relatively well. In its third quarter, Intel posted net income of $3.47 billion, compared with $2.96 billion, in the same period a year ago. Revenue was $14.2 billion, compared with $11.1 billion a year ago.

On Monday, Intel said it expects PC sales to increase from the previous quarter, but not as much as it previously expected because companies are reducing their inventories due to shortages of hard drives.

Jefferies analyst Mark Lipacis said Intel was due to lower its forecast. Last month, AMD announced it would cut 1,400 jobs with personal computer sales slowing and delays in manufacturing. Texas Instruments Inc. lowered its fourth-quarter guidance last week.

ISuppli said earlier that it expects global PC shipments to total 84.2 million in the first three months of 2012, down from a previous estimate of 88 million. Intel also said it expects hard-drive supply shortages to continue into the first quarter.

Justice, AT&T agree to put off antitrust trial (AP)

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 11:54 AM PST

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Nedra Pickler, Associated Press – Mon Dec 12, 2:54 pm ET

WASHINGTON – AT&T Inc. and the Justice Department agreed Monday to put off their upcoming antitrust trial over the phone company's proposed acquisition of smaller rival T-Mobile USA while the wireless carriers determine the fate of the deal.

U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle quickly approved their motion to cancel their February trial and set a Jan. 18 hearing about the future of the deal.

The development comes as the $39 billion deal is under increasing government opposition, with analysts now giving it a slim chance of going through.

In a statement, AT&T said it and T-Mobile's parent company, Deutsche Telekom AG of Germany, want the delay "to allow the two companies time to evaluate all options."

"AT&T is committed to working with Deutsche Telekom to find a solution that is in the best interests of our respective customers, shareholders and employees," the statement said. "We are actively considering whether and how to revise our current transaction to achieve the necessary regulatory approvals so that we can deliver the capacity enhancements and improved customer service that can only be derived from combining our two companies' wireless assets."

The Justice Department sued to block the merger on Aug. 31. The government said the combination of the No. 2 and No. 4 cellphone companies in the country would reduce competition and lead to higher consumer prices.

The two companies withdrew their application for the Federal Communications Commission to approve the deal three weeks ago after the commission's chairman came out against the deal. The companies said they would seek approval from Huvelle in the scheduled trial of the Justice Department's case and would file another FCC application later.

But they are now reconsidering that plan. At a hearing Friday, the Justice Department said there was no valid transaction to challenge since the FCC application was pulled and wanted the case dismissed or delayed. Huvelle expressed concern that AT&T was "using" the court and wasting taxpayer resources and had scheduled a hearing for Thursday on the fate of the case.

That hearing and all others including the six-week trial scheduled to start Feb. 13 are now off. Huvelle ordered that by Jan. 12, the companies must file a report "describing the status of their proposed transaction, including discussion of whether they intend to proceed with the transaction" or another transaction and the status of any related FCC proceedings and timetable.

Ad agency turns Google Street View into a first-person shooter (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 06:07 PM PST

YouTube grants schools special access to 400,000 educational videos (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 05:58 PM PST

Top 10 Tips for Using Your Feature Phone as a Smartphone (Mashable)

Posted: 11 Dec 2011 09:34 AM PST

Christine Erickson Christine Erickson – Sun Dec 11, 12:34 pm ET

If you're still taking flak for your antennae-clad flip-phone, the joke's on your smartphone friends. Maybe you don't need a smartphone, or you don't want the high monthly data bill. Don't worry, because you can do nearly all the mobile tricks they can if you know how to use your feature phone. However, the day-to-day routine becomes increasingly more inconvenient for those who can't download an app at the snap (or touch) of their fingertips.

[More from Mashable: 5 Small Biz Mobile Marketing Strategies for the Holidays]

If you think you're behind because you don't own a smartphone, you should know there aren't as many smartphone users as you'd think.

SEE ALSO: 10 Hilarious Vintage Cellphone Commercials

[More from Mashable: My Xbox Live Hits the iOS App Store]

There are plenty of ways to utilize your phone for more than just texting and calling. Even if you have a smartphone, sometimes you run into an area without service, so it's good to know how to get back to basics.

Here are ten ways to get more out of your phone.

1. Email

There are some people who respond quicker to email than anything else. That's unfortunate for anyone who doesn't have a phone capable of email, but you can actually send them a message from your phone. Just direct the text to the recipient's email address, type the message as you would in the body of an email address and you can also send photos.

Many of the following tips require email to utilize their service. So if you can do this with your phone, you should be good to go.

2. Twitter

Updating your Twitter via SMS is easy as sending a text. First you need to find your code -- for example, U.S. is 40404. Text "start" to the code and wait two minutes. Twitter will reply and ask you to sign up if you're new, or just text back your username. You'll need to send your password too, then once you've agreed to the sign-up, you can tweet away.

You can also receive select updates from followers of your choice. On each profile, next to the follow button, there is a small button with a cellphone on it. Clicking that will automatically send their status updates to you via SMS.

Once verified, simply texting the code with your 140-character update is all you have to do. If you have a camera phone, you can send pictures by registering through other services, such as TwitPic.

3. Facebook

Uploading to Facebook is similar to Twitter. You need to register your phone and then activate it for text messaging. If you don't want your friends to see your phone number, make sure you uncheck the box on the right side of the page.

You'll receive a personalized email to post status updates or send photos to your profile, which you text the email address and it will automatically update for you.

You can also receive status updates, messages and wall posts from friends via SMS. I advise against this if you have a large volume of friends on Facebook. It will get old quickly.

4. Tumblr

If you're a blogger on a budget, you can still update your Tumblr via SMS.

First, you need to grab your personal email address from the settings page of your blog. It's separate from the regular email address you'd normally use to log in.

Whether you want to send an short update, blog post with tags, a photo, quote or any other feature on Tumblr -- send it in a text to the custom email address and Tumblr will automatically detect it and send to your blog.

5. ChaCha

ChaCha may be evolving to mobile, but it still answers one to two million questions every day by text message. The service lets you ask a question via calling or SMS from your mobile and quickly receive an answer.

Wondering how tall Danny Devito really is? Want to know when Superman's birthday is? Just text CHACHA (242242) to get any burning question resolved.

6. Google

Whether you need to find an address or check your Gmail, these are all capable features through Google SMS applications.

When you need an address, or perhaps restaurant suggestions in the area, simply text GOOGL (46645) with whatever information you have, for example "sushi" (without the quotes), and then the Zip code or city and state. Within minutes, you'll receive a listing of places.

Need to be reminded of an important event? Register your phone to Google Calendar SMS and then text GVENT (48368) to request your next scheduled event, or all of your events within the next two days.

7. FourSquare

Don't think that you can't earn the "Super User" badge just because you don't have a smartphone. First you have to sign up, then compose a new message to the phone number DOTCOM (368266), and send the word foursquare in the body of the message.

After that, you'll receive a menu of options, such as tips nearby, your to-do list and check-ins, which are based on your last location. So, say you last checked into Brooklyn Brewery, it would assume you were still in Brooklyn. To change cities, simply select the number 3, plus the new place.

8. RSS

You can go anywhere with your favorite blogs and news sites to read with SMSmyRSS.

After creating a free account, just enter RSS web content you want forwarded to your phone. You can enter keywords to flag any important stories. Like with Twitter, take incoming content sparingly. Otherwise, your inbox is going to become full very quickly.

9. Traffic.com

Traffic.com will send you traffic alerts via email or SMS updates when roads you frequent reach dangerous conditions, or accidents or construction are blocking the way. Just sign up for the free service and get notified when it'd be better to take an alternate way home.

10. PayPal

After Domino's: text 61212 with easily recognizable keywords, and the pizza should be delivered within 30 minutes.

Papa Johns: Although you can't literally order a pizza via SMS at Papa John's, the company does offer a restaurant locator and will text you special deals on pizza and other items.

Images courtesy of Flickr, mallix, Ramberg Media Images and callme_crochet

This story originally published on Mashable here.

Kenya army, Somali militia swap Twitter insults (AP)

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 08:08 PM PST

By KATHARINE HOURELD, Associated Press Katharine Houreld, Associated Press – 1 hr 40 mins ago

NAIROBI, Kenya – Kenyan soldiers and members of an extremist Islamist militant group have been fighting each other in Somalia since Kenya invaded two months ago. Now, their spokesmen are taking the battle onto Twitter, with taunts, accusations and insults being directly traded in a rare engagement on the Internet.

The propaganda war on the microblogging website shows the increasingly sophisticated use of media by both sides and underscores that there is often little reliable information about the conflict in Somalia that now directly or indirectly involves a half-dozen nations, analysts say.

"The tweets themselves will not be entirely accurate but it will allow analysts to triangulate that information and come up with a more accurate picture of what is really happening," said E.J. Hogendoorn of the International Crisis Group think tank.

On Monday, the Islamic insurgent group al-Shabab used its Twitter feed to accuse Kenya of having a history of committing "barbarous acts" toward ethnic Somalis, and cited a 1984 massacre where human rights groups say Kenyan troops killed around 3,000 ethnic Somali men in eastern Kenya.

Addressing more recent actions, al-Shabab's tweets that began last week claimed that Kenyan soldiers in Somalia "flee from confrontation & flinch in the face of death." The Twitter feed also described al-Shabab's own press release giving details about Burundian soldiers killed in an October battle between African Union peacekeeping troops and the insurgents. Al-Shabab claimed to have killed more than 150 AU troops at the time.

The AU only reported 10 casualties although Mogadishu-based security sources say the figure was closer to 70.

Al-Shabab's tweets, written in fluent English, mocked an earlier Twitter posting by Kenya's army spokesman, Maj. Emmanuel Chirchir, that threatened to bomb concentrations of donkeys that might be moving weapons for the insurgents.

"Your eccentric battle strategy has got animal rights groups quite concerned, Major," the al-Shabab posting said.

The Associated Press has determined that both Twitter accounts — HSMPress and MajorEChirchir — are legitimate. It's not clear who is writing the al-Shabab tweets. Several Americans, most of Somali descent, have in recent years joined the group that Washington has designated a terrorist organization.

Chirchir has responded with his own barrage of tweets.

"With Al Shabaab joining tweeter, lets take fight to their doorstep," he wrote. Chirchir accused al-Shabab of stoning an innocent girl to death and chopping off hands. He noted that many commanders have banned bras in their territory, and urged readers to retweet the message in support of Somali women.

Al-Shabab, which is fighting the weak U.N.-backed Somali government and controls much of southern Somalia, follows strict Shariah law and has carried out amputations and executions, including stoning to death a girl who Amnesty International said was a 13-year-old rape victim. It also enforces a strict dress code, flogging women whose robes it deems are not thick enough.

Kenyan human rights activist Hassan Omar Hassan says the flurry of tweets obscures the paucity of information about actual operations by the Kenyan military since it entered Somalia in October. Kenyan leaders have not said how long the intervention might last or what the ultimate goals are.

"To make an honest judgment about the war, Kenyans need more accuracy in war reporting," said Hassan. "We don't know the full story ... the government has been able to circumvent accountability."

The military originally portrayed the incursion as a short mission sparked by the kidnappings of foreigners in Kenya, near the Somali border. But Kenya has been pushing for the establishment of a buffer state along its border with war-ravaged Somalia for many years.

Last week, Kenya's parliament approved a plan to eventually place the Kenyan troops under the command of African Union forces in the Somali capital, indicating that Kenyan forces could remain in Somalia for a long time. The plan has not yet been approved by the U.N. or donors funding the AU force.

Analysts say if al-Shabab tweets timely, accurate information about events it may force more disclosures from Kenyan and African Union military authorities. But al-Shabab has already allegedly exaggerated the numbers of wounded civilians and its military victories.

On Saturday, al-Shabab tweeted that Kenyan jets had bombed a Red Cross feeding center in the town of Bardhere, with scores of women and children injured.

A day later, the Red Cross confirmed their center was hit, but said there were no casualties because it was empty at the time.

___

Follow Katharine Houreld at http://twitter.com/khoureld

Alibaba shopping search unit targets 20 percent market share (Reuters)

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 06:09 PM PST

– Mon Dec 12, 9:09 pm ET

BEIJING (Reuters) – Chinese shopping search engine Etao, a unit of Alibaba Group, aims to garner a 15-20 percent share of Chinese market traffic over the next three years, its parent said.

Alibaba Group, 40 percent owned by Yahoo Inc, said Etao was not immediately concerned about profitability as it focuses on increasing market share.

Local media reported last month that Alibaba Group would invest 1 billion yuan ($157.2 million) in Etao to increase traffic to the site.

"The goal is to make Etao the most complete and most convenient platform for consumers making shopping decisions." Alibaba said in an emailed statement to Reuters late on Monday.

Etao employs about 1,500 people.

China is the world's largest Internet market with more than 480 million users. About 36 percent of Internet users shop online, according to government statistics.

(Reporting by Jerry Huang; Writing by Melanie Lee; Editing by Chris Lewis)

Facebook more popular than many Google apps on Android phones (Digital Trends)

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 08:58 PM PST

Mike Flacy Mike Flacy – 50 mins ago

facebook-for-android

According to a recent study conducted by Nielsen and published on the official company blog, Facebook is the most popular application on Android-powered smartphones besides the Android Market. The social networking app beat out Google applications such as Gmail, Google Search, YouTube and Google Maps. The Facebook application is most popular with people between the ages of 25 to 34 and over 75 percent of people between the ages of 35 to 44 use the social networking application. While the previously mentioned Google apps are also popular among all age groups, Google's YouTube app is most popular among the younger segment of respondents between the ages of 18 to 24. 

The popular game Angry Birds is most widely used among people between the ages of 35 to 44 while Pandora is very popular among the youngest demographic within the study. Other applications that made the top 15 within each demographic category include Words with Friends, Advanced Task Killer Free, The Weather Channel, Quickoffice, Adobe Reader and Yahoo! Mail. Also included within the Top 15 apps, Amazon's AppStore is most popular among the oldest demographic with 24 percent of users claiming to have accessed the application in the last 30 days. Respondents between the ages of 18 to 24 are the least likely to use the Amazon AppStore with only 14 percent claiming to use it on a regular basis.

Last week, Google announced that 10 billion apps have been downloaded from the Android Market and the company would celebrate the milestone by reducing prices on select apps down to just 10 cents for a period of 10 days. When compared against Apple's App Store, it took Google an additional six months to reach the 10 billion download mark. The Android Market was treated to a redesign during May 2011 which contained greater levels of categorization including trending apps, top grossing apps, top developers and apps selected specifically by editors.

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

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Microsoft appoints new head of phone group (Reuters)

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 03:46 PM PST

– Mon Dec 12, 6:46 pm ET

(Reuters) – Microsoft Corp appointed a new head for its mobile phone software group on Monday, as the company continues to search for ways to extend its dominance in the PC market to the fast-growing and highly-competitive smartphone business.

Microsoft Windows Phone Division President Andy Lees, who has led the phone group since 2009, will take a new role at the company that involves working with the company's phone and PC businesses, according to a letter to employees sent by Chief Executive Steve Ballmer on Monday.

Replacing Lees as head of the Windows Phone Division is Terry Myerson, who had previously overseen engineering efforts for the phone group. Myerson will now be responsible for Windows Phone development, marketing and other business functions, wrote Ballmer.

Microsoft's Windows operating system is the most widely used software for the world's personal computers. But the company has struggled to find its footing in the market for Internet-enabled smartphones, where Google Inc's Android and Apple Inc's iOS have become consumer favorites.

Ballmer said that Lees, in his new role, will "work for me on a time-critical opportunity focused on driving maximum impact in 2012 with Windows Phone and Windows 8." He did not elaborate on exactly what the position entailed or specify Lees' title.

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; editing by Carol Bishopric)

Oops! Charlie Sheen accidentally tweets his phone number to 5.5m followers (Digital Trends)

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 05:42 PM PST

Trevor Mogg Trevor Mogg – Mon Dec 12, 8:42 pm ET

If you're a Twitter user with a couple of hundred followers, accidentally tweeting your phone number may result in one or two unwanted calls from people you don't know.

If, on the other hand, you're a Twitter user with 5.5 million followers, accidentally tweeting your number is going to result in a whole lot more hassle. But according to a New York Post report, that's exactly what movie and TV actor Charlie Sheen did.

The former Two and a Half Men star, who describes himself on his Twitter page as an "unemployed winner," had meant to direct message clean-cut teenage singer Justin Bieber (who's taking lessons from who here?).

"310-954-7277 Call me bro. C," Sheen wrote in the tweet while dining in a Las Vegas restaurant. After realizing his error, he quickly removed it, though not before it was retweeted by a number of his followers.

Not entirely unexpectedly, his phone reportedly began vibrating itself into oblivion as a vast number of a his Twitter followers set about messaging and calling him. "It was ringing wildly, and he got 1,800 text messages in minutes," one source dining at the restaurant told the NYP.

Apparently, Charlie could see the funny side and decided to have a little fun with the situation. "[He] answered the phone a few times, saying things like 'Ray's Pizza' and 'Winning,'" the source said, adding, "But his phone just continued ringing and buzzing and eventually just completely melted down. Charlie was like, 'I guess I need a new phone.'" Of the phone calls that Charlie took, one assumes most callers opened with the line, "Hey, it's Justin."

Sheen joined Twitter back in March at around the time he was fired from the hit show Two and a Half Men, a role which made him the highest paid actor on American television. Within only an hour of joining the microblogging site, he had 100,000 followers.

Oh, and in case you were thinking of giving Charlie a call to find out how's he's been doing lately, don't bother. The number has since been disconnected.

[Image: Angela George]

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

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Just Show Me: How to change the registration on your Kindle Fire (Yahoo! News)

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 03:36 PM PST

Amazon promises Kindle Fire updates in the next two weeks (Appolicious)

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 12:39 PM PST

Police unsure of tabloid role in key UK hacking case (Reuters)

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 04:34 PM PST

Transformers: Fall of Cybertron trailer makes a big splash at the Spike VGAs (Digital Trends)

Posted: 11 Dec 2011 11:50 AM PST

Adam Rosenberg Adam Rosenberg – Sun Dec 11, 2:50 pm ET

transformers

High Moon Studios debuted a gorgeous new trailer for Transformers: Fall of Cybertron at the Spike Video Game Awards last night. There's zero gameplay, but it doesn't really matter; most will probably agree that this trailer was the highlight of the night. Maybe it's the music. Or the injured Bumblebee being cradled by Optimus Prime, both in their Generation 1 getups. Or the Dinobot.

Yeah, it's definitely the Dinobot. If the final game is half as fan-serving as this trailer is, we're in for a treat when Fall of Cybertron arrives at the end of next year.

 

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

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This posting includes an audio/video/photo media file: Download Now

Political coverage takes center stage, for subscribers, in NYTimes Election 2012 (Appolicious)

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 12:30 PM PST

Jive Software prices IPO above range: underwriter (Reuters)

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 05:06 PM PST

– Mon Dec 12, 8:06 pm ET

(Reuters) – Jive Software Inc priced its initial public offering at $12 per share, above its expected price range of between $8 and $10 per share, according to an underwriter.

Jive, which makes software that integrates online communities, microblogging, social networking, discussion forums, blogs, wikis, and instant messaging under one interface, had filed in August, to raise up to $100 million in its IPO.

Jive's pricing kicks of what is expected to be the busiest week in the U.S. IPO calendar since 2007, and is the first in a long list of companies expected to go public this week, including social games maker Zynga and luxury lifestyle company Michael Kors Holdings'.

Shares of the Palo-Alto, California-based company, backed by

Californian venture capital firm Sequoia Capital, are expected to start trading on Tuesday on Nasdaq under the symbol 'JIVE'.

Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs are the lead underwriters to the offering.

(Reporting by Aman Shah in Bangalore; editing By Carol Bishopric)

India shuts server linked to Duqu computer virus (Reuters)

Posted: 12 Dec 2011 08:39 AM PST

By Jim Finkle and Supantha Mukherjee Jim Finkle And Supantha Mukherjee – Mon Dec 12, 11:39 am ET

(Reuters) – Indian authorities are investigating a computer server in Mumbai for links to the Duqu malicious software that some security experts warned could be the next big cyber threat.

Web Werks, a Mumbai-based Web-hosting company, said it had given an image of the suspicious virtual private server to officials from the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In), after security firm Symantec Corp found the server was communicating with computers infected with the Duqu virus.

The virtual private server was leased to a client in Milan, Italy, according to Nikhil Rathi, founder of Web Werks. "This is an unmanaged server. So, you just make it and let the customer access it," he said. "When you hand over a server to a customer, that's it, it's his. He can change his password and do whatever he wants with it."

News of Duqu first surfaced on October 18 when Symantec said in a report that a research lab with international connections had alerted it to a mysterious computer virus that "appeared to be very similar to Stuxnet," a piece of malicious software believed to have wreaked havoc on Iran's nuclear program. [ID:nN1E79H1XK]

Government and private investigators around the world are racing to unlock the secret of Duqu, with early analysis suggesting that it was developed by sophisticated hackers to help lay the groundwork for attacks on critical infrastructure such as power plants, oil refineries and pipelines.

The image from Web Werks, a privately held company in Mumbai with about 200 employees, might hold valuable data to help investigators determine who built Duqu and how it can be used. But putting the pieces together is a long and difficult process, experts said.

"This one is challenging," said Marty Edwards, director of the Department of Homeland Security's Industrial Control Systems Cyber Emergency Response Team. "It's a very complex piece of software."

He declined to comment on the investigation by authorities in India, but said that his agency was working with counterparts in other countries to learn more about Duqu.

An official in India's Department of Information Technology who investigates cyber attacks also declined to discuss the matter. "I am not able to comment on any investigations," said Gulshan Rai, director of CERT-In.

UNLOCKING THE SECRET

Stuxnet is malicious software designed to target widely used industrial control systems built by Germany's Siemens. It is believed to have crippled centrifuges that Iran uses to enrich uranium for what the United States and some European nations have charged is a covert nuclear weapons program. [ID:nL3E7LI1PL]

Duqu appears to be more narrowly targeted than Stuxnet as researchers estimate the new Trojan virus has infected at most dozens of machines so far. By comparison, Stuxnet spread much more quickly, popping up on thousands of computer systems.

Security firms including Dell Inc's SecureWorks, Intel Corp's McAfee, Kaspersky Lab and Symantec say they found Duqu victims in Europe, Iran, Sudan and the United States. They declined to provide their identities.

Duqu -- so named because it creates files with "DQ" in the prefix -- was designed to steal secrets from the computers it infects, researchers said, such as design documents from makers of highly sophisticated valves, motors, pipes and switches.

Experts suspect that information is being gathered for use in developing future cyber weapons that would target the control systems of critical infrastructure.

The hackers behind Duqu are unknown, but their sophistication suggests they are backed by a government, researchers say.

"A cyber saboteur should understand the engineering specifications of every component that could be targeted for destruction in an operation," said John Bumgarner, chief technology officer for the U.S. Cyber Consequences Unit.

That is exactly what the authors of Stuxnet did when they built that cyber weapon, said Bumgarner, who is writing a paper on the development of Stuxnet.

"They studied the technical details of gas centrifuges and figured out how they could be destroyed," he said.

Such cyber reconnaissance missions are examples of an increasingly common phenomenon known as "blended" attacks, where elite hackers infiltrate one target to facilitate access to another.

Hackers who infiltrated Nasdaq's computer systems last year installed malware that allowed them to spy on the directors of publicly held companies.

In March, hackers stole digital security keys from EMC Corp's RSA Security division that they later used to breach the networks of defense contractor Lockheed Martin Corp.

Researchers said they are still trying to figure out what the next phase of Duqu attacks might be.

"We are a little bit behind in the game," said Don Jackson, a director of the Dell SecureWorks Counter Threat Unit. "Knowing what these guys are doing, they are probably a step ahead."

(Reporting by Supantha Mukherjee in New York, Jim Finkle in Boston; Additional reporting by Henry Foy in Mumbai; editing by Tiffany Wu)

(This story corrects fourth paragraph to show that Symantec did not claim that it had found Duqu, but that it said a research lab with international connections had alerted it to the virus.)

(This story corrects paragraphs one and two after Web Werks said Indian authorities made copies of the suspicious server and did not seize equipment; adds Web Werks comment on client in paragraph three; removes paragraphs eight and nine that referred to equipment being seized)
at 9:59 PM

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